Saint Joseph adores the newborn Jesus

In the foreground, the Holy Family is depicted surrounded by angels. A strange light emanates from the Child. The Child looks at those gathered intelligently because He is God. Saint Joseph is accompanied by two animals, which also appear in subsequent frescoes. These are an ox and a donkey, and the painter was inspired by a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib” (Isaiah 1:3). These animals consistently appear with Saint Joseph, symbolizing the new nation that recognizes its Lord—Christians.

In the background, sleeping shepherds are visible by a fire. One, keeping watch, is turned away, illuminated by the moonlight. King David, from whose lineage the Savior was to come, was also a shepherd. The shepherds—representatives of a profession considered unclean by the Jews—are the first to be told of the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah.

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